The present invention relates in general to a system and a method for circuit compliance compensated volume control in a patient respiratory ventilation system, and more particularly, to a respiratory ventilation system suitable for use in all ages and sizes of patients by effectively and accurately estimating and compensating for the patient circuit compliance
In order to deliver an accurate set tidal volume to a patient in a respiratory ventilation system, the patient circuit compliance has to be compensated. The compensation of patient circuit compliance is especially crucial for neonatal patients whose lung compliance can be as small as about one thirteenth of the circuit compliance. Without compensating the circuit compliance, inaccurate volume and inadequate flow will be delivered to the patient. Therefore, various designs and algorithms have been proposed to facilitate the patient circuit compliance compensation in the respiratory ventilation system. Currently, the settings or approaches in many of the circuit compliance compensation designs or algorithms actually impact the ability of exhaling delivered tidal volume for the patient and consequently causing gas trapping and auto PEEP. Therefore, most of the ventilators available in the market do not allow the circuit compliance compensation designs applied to neonatal patients due to the stringent precision requirement on volume delivery. The burden of achieving accurate volume delivery is thus left for the clinician.
Currently, two algorithms that directly add an estimate of patient circuit volume to a set tidal volume are commonly used. In one of the commonly used algorithms, an estimate of patient circuit volume is directly added to a set tidal volume by extending the inspiratory time with a specific peak flow. The patient circuit volume is computed using the peak airway pressure (measured by an expiratory pressure transducer) and an estimate of the patient circuit compliance. As understood, the extension of inspiratory time often impacts the ability of the patient to exhale the delivered tidal volume; and consequently, results in gas trapping and auto PEEP. Such adverse effects are much more significant for young pediatric or neonatal patients whose lung compliance is comparative to or as small as only 1/13 of the patient circuit compliance. Therefore, patient circuit compliance compensation based on the first algorithm is not suitable for those patients with small lung compliance. In addition, such algorithm is not responsive when changes in airway resistance and/or lung compliance occur.
In the second approach, an estimate of patient circuit volume is added to set tidal volume by increasing the preset peak inspiratory flow, which ultimately causes the increment of the average peak airway pressure. The patient circuit volume is computed using the average peak airway pressure of previous (four) mandatory/machine breaths and an estimate of the patient circuit compliance. The patient circuit volume is thus continuously elevated breath after breath. Due to positive feedback of average peak airway pressure, the second algorithm can establish a runaway (not converge) condition on neonatal patient size where the ratio of circuit compliance to patient (lung) compliance is as high as 13:1. Moreover, this algorithm is not robust in cases where airway resistance is high due to effects such as gas compression which occurs as a result of positive feedback of peak airway pressure. Therefore, this algorithm is only effective on adults and some pediatrics patient sizes, and it is not responsive when changes in airway resistance and/lung compliance occur either.
It is therefore a substantial need to develop a system and a method operative to provide circuit compensated volume control in a patient respiratory ventilation system without any of the above adverse effect and clinically acceptable for all patient sizes.